Drug fees surge under PPACA, report says

But increases were seen in all PPACA plan levels for generic drug co-insurance fees and specialty drug copays. In fact, specialty copays were huge across the board: The average price pre-reform ($58.46) increased a whopping 226 percent for a bronze plan, 185 percent for a silver plan, 170 percent for a gold plan and 116 percent for a platinum plan.

But researchers still made sure to note that the law has been somewhat beneficial to the prescription drug market.

“The legislation created an expansion of the drug benefit for the individual market and small group market inasmuch as all non-grandfathered health plans must include a prescription drug benefit,” HealthPocket’s report read. “Subsidies on health insurance premiums also result in some portion of the previously uninsured being able to enroll in a health plan containing a drug benefit. Additionally, a few over-the-counter drugs such as aspirin, folic acid, and iron supplements can be obtained without a copayment when used as preventive medicine.”

Finally, enrollees who use drugs infrequently “may not notice the cost-sharing increases,” it said.

See also:

• IMS: Wiser medication use could cut health costs
• Drug costs persist as concern for Medicare patients
• Specialty drugs: What will sick people do?
• Express Scripts: Spending on traditional prescriptions fell